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Wikipedia

KDKA-TV

January 13, 2023

For the television station in Weston, West Virginia, which currently uses the callsign formerly used by KDKA-TV, see WDTV.
Not to be confused with WDKA.

KDKA-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed CW affiliate WPCW (channel 19). Both stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh, while KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood. KDKA-TV, along with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, are the only CBS-affiliated stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.

KDKA-TV
Channels
BrandingKDKA 2; KDKA-TV News
Programming
Affiliations2.1: CBS (secondary until 1957)
2.2: Start TV
2.3: Dabl
2.4: Fave TV
Ownership
Owner
Broadcast: WPCW
Streaming:
CBS News Pittsburgh
History
First air date
January 11, 1949 (74 years ago) (1949-01-11)
Former call signs
WDTV (1949–1955)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
3 (VHF, 1949–1952)
2 (VHF, 1952–2009)
Primary:
DuMont (1949–1956)
Secondary:
NBC (1949–1957)
ABC (1949–1958)
DT2:
Decades (2015–2018)
Call sign meaning
derived from former sister station KDKA radio
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID25454
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT311 m (1,020 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°29′38″N 80°1′9″W / 40.49389°N 80.01917°W / 40.49389; -80.01917Coordinates: 40°29′38″N 80°1′9″W / 40.49389°N 80.01917°W / 40.49389; -80.01917
Links
Public license information
  • Public file
  • LMS
Websitecbspittsburgh.com

KDKA-TV is available on cable in parts of the Johnstown–Altoona, Wheeling–Steubenville and Youngstown areas, as well as several other out-of-market cable systems in northwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, northeastern and east-central Ohio, and north-central West Virginia. The furthest south KDKA-TV is carried on cable is in Beverly, West Virginia.[1]

History

DuMont origins (1949–1954)

 
WDTV broadcast of We, the People on April 18, 1952. The guest is New York Yankees player Bill Bevens.

The station signed on as WDTV on January 11, 1949, as a primary affiliate of the former DuMont Television Network, while carrying secondary affiliations with CBS, NBC, and ABC. It originally broadcast on channel 3 and was owned and operated by DuMont parent company Allen B. DuMont Laboratories.[2] It was the 51st television station in the U.S., the third and last DuMont-owned station to sign on the air (behind WABD (now WNYW) in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D.C.), and the first owned-and-operated station in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. To mark the occasion, a live television special aired that day from 8:30 to 11 p.m. on WDTV, which began with a one-hour local program broadcast from Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh. The remainder of the show featured live segments from DuMont, CBS, NBC, and ABC with Arthur Godfrey, Milton Berle, DuMont host Ted Steele, and many other celebrities.[3]

The station also represented a milestone in the television industry, providing the link between the Midwestern and East Coast stations which included 13 other cities able to receive live telecasts from Boston to St. Louis for the first time.[4] WDTV was one of the last stations to receive a construction permit before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-imposed four-year freeze on new television station licenses.

When the release of the FCC's Sixth Report and Order ended the license freeze in 1952, DuMont was forced to give up its channel 3 allocation to alleviate interference with nearby stations broadcasting on the frequency, notably NBC-owned WNBK (now WKYC) in Cleveland, who itself moved to the frequency to avoid interference with stations in Columbus and Detroit. WDTV moved its facilities to channel 2 on November 23, 1952;[5] WPSU-TV would later sign on with the channel 3 frequency for the Johnstown/Altoona market. Shortly after moving, it was the first station in the country to broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, advertising that its 1:00–7:00 a.m. Swing Shift Theatre served the "200,000 workers [in their viewing area] who finish shift work at midnight."[6] DuMont's network of stations on coaxial cable stretched from Boston to St. Louis. These stations were linked together via AT&T's coaxial cable feed with the sign-on of WDTV allowing the network to broadcast live programming to all the stations at the same time. Stations not yet connected to the coaxial cable received kinescope recordings via physical delivery.[citation needed]

 
The DuMont Television Network in 1949.

Dealing with competition

Until the end of the freeze, WDTV's only competition came in the form of distant signals from stations in Johnstown, Altoona, Wheeling and Youngstown. However, Pittsburgh saw two UHF stations launch during 1953—ABC affiliate WENS (channel 16, later to become WINP-TV), and WKJF-TV (channel 53, later to become WPGH-TV), an independent station. At the time, UHF stations could not be viewed without the aid of an expensive set-top converter, and the picture quality was marginal at best with one. UHF stations in the area faced an additional problem because Pittsburgh is located in a somewhat rugged dissected plateau, and the reception of UHF stations is usually poor in such terrain. These factors played a role in the short-lived existences of both WKJF and WENS.[citation needed]

Although Pittsburgh was the sixth largest market in the country (behind New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington/Baltimore), the other VHF stations in town were slow to develop. This was because the major cities in the Upper Ohio Valley are so close together that they must share the VHF band. After the FCC lifted the license freeze in 1952, it refused to grant any new commercial VHF construction permits to Pittsburgh in order to give the smaller cities in the area a chance to get on the air. WDTV had a de facto monopoly on Pittsburgh television. Like its sister stations WABD and WTTG, it was far stronger than the DuMont network as a whole. According to network general manager Ted Bergmann, WDTV brought in $4 million a year, which was more than enough to keep the network afloat. Owning the only readily viewable station in such a large market gave DuMont considerable leverage in getting its programs cleared in large markets where it did not have an affiliate. As CBS, NBC and ABC had secondary affiliations with WDTV, this was a strong incentive to stations in large markets to clear DuMont's programs or risk losing valuable advertising in the sixth-largest market. Also, NBC affiliates from Johnstown (WJAC-TV, channel 6) and Wheeling (WTRF-TV, channel 7) were able to be received in Pittsburgh and a CBS affiliate from Steubenville, Ohio (WSTV-TV, now WTOV-TV) was also able to be received there as well. CBS, in fact, actually attempted to purchase WSTV-TV's license before it went on the air and move its channel 9 allocation to Pittsburgh due to the close proximity between Pittsburgh and Steubenville (At the time less than an hour apart by car; the completion of the Penn-Lincoln Parkway in 1964 reduced that time to about a half-hour driving time today), but the FCC turned CBS down. The Wheeling/Steubenville TV market, despite its very close proximity to Pittsburgh and overlapping signals, remains a separate market by FCC standards today.

WDTV aired all DuMont network shows live and "cherry-picked" the best shows from the other networks, airing them on kinescope on an every-other-week basis. WDTV's sign-on was also significant because it was now possible to feed live programs from the East to the Midwest and vice versa. In fact, its second broadcast was the activation of the coaxial cable linking New York City and Chicago. It would be another two years before the West Coast received live programming, but this was the beginning of the modern era of network television.[citation needed]

As KDKA-TV (1954–present)

 
KDKA-TV's studio building at One Gateway Center in Pittsburgh. The station has been housed in this facility since 1956.[7]
 
KDKA-TV's updated studio building signage put up in April 2019. KDKA radio moved to Green Tree in 2010.
 
KDKA-TV's 2021 news truck, a Chevrolet Equinox, in Pittsburgh.

By 1954, DuMont was in serious financial trouble. Paramount Pictures, which owned a stake in DuMont, vetoed a merger with ABC, who had merged with Paramount's former theater division United Paramount Theaters a year before. A few years earlier, the FCC had ruled that Paramount controlled DuMont and there were still lingering questions about whether UPT had actually broken off from Paramount. Paramount did not want to risk the FCC's wrath.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation had been competing with local politicians to acquire the non-commercial channel 13 license from the FCC, as no other Pittsburgh-allocated VHF station would be signing on for the foreseeable future. After launching WBZ-TV in Boston in 1948 and purchasing two other television stations, Westinghouse was growing impatient with not having a station in its own home market. Before the freeze, Westinghouse was a shoo-in for the channel 6 license that would later be given to WJAC-TV in Johnstown after that station gave up the channel 13 allocation to Pittsburgh as part of the FCC's reallocation plan.[8] Westinghouse later offered a compromise plan to the FCC, in which the Commission would grant Westinghouse the channel 13 license; Westinghouse would then "share" the facility with the educational licensee. Finding the terms unacceptable, Pittsburgh attorney Leland Hazard called Westinghouse CEO Gwilym Price to ask him if he should give up on his fight for public television. Price said that Hazard should keep fighting for it, giving Westinghouse backing for the station that would eventually become WQED.[9]

Westinghouse then turned its attention to WDTV, offering DuMont a then-record $9.75 million for the station in late 1954. Desperate for cash, DuMont promptly accepted Westinghouse's offer.[10] While the sale gave DuMont a short-term cash infusion, it eliminated DuMont's leverage in getting clearances in other major markets. Within two years, the DuMont network was no more. After the sale closed in January 1955, Westinghouse changed WDTV's call letters to KDKA-TV, after Westinghouse's pioneering radio station KDKA (1020 AM).[11] As such, it became one of the few stations east of the Mississippi River with a "K" call sign. The WDTV calls now reside on a CBS affiliate located 130 miles (209 km) south of Pittsburgh in Weston, West Virginia (which is unrelated to the current KDKA-TV). That station, which signed on after KDKA-TV adopted its current callsign, adopted those calls "in honor" of KDKA-TV.

As KDKA radio had long been an affiliate of the NBC Blue Network (Westinghouse was a co-founder of RCA, NBC's then-parent company), it was expected that KDKA-TV would eventually become a primary affiliate of the NBC television network. But the network was seeking to purchase Westinghouse's Philadelphia stations, KYW radio and WPTZ (now KYW-TV). When Westinghouse balked, NBC threatened to pull its programming from WPTZ and Boston's WBZ-TV unless Westinghouse agreed to trade its Philadelphia properties for NBC's radio and television properties in Cleveland. (Related to the trade, Westinghouse received a cross-station waiver from the FCC to own the Cleveland properties due to overlapping signals with KDKA radio and channel 2.) The decision would lead to an acrimonious relationship between Westinghouse and NBC in later years.[12][13] Two years after the ownership change, channel 2 became a primary affiliate of the higher-rated CBS network instead.[14] KDKA-TV retained secondary affiliations with NBC until WIIC-TV (channel 11, now WPXI) signed on in 1957, and ABC until WTAE-TV (channel 4) signed on in 1958. Despite the ending of its commercial VHF monopoly, KDKA-TV did welcome competitor WIIC-TV on the air.[15] KDKA-TV became the flagship station of Westinghouse's broadcasting arm, Group W. During the late 1950s, KDKA-TV was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, sharing the affiliation with WTAE-TV, WIIC-TV, and WQED.[16] On November 22, 1963, newscaster Bill Burns provided almost three hours of live coverage after the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.[17]

In 1994, Westinghouse was looking to make a group-wide affiliation deal for its stations as part of a larger plan to transform itself into a major media conglomerate after WJZ-TV lost its ABC affiliation to Scripps-owned WMAR-TV in an affiliation deal spurred by Fox's affiliation deal with New World Communications. Westinghouse negotiated with NBC and CBS for a deal. Had Westinghouse signed with NBC, KDKA-TV would affiliate itself with NBC 40 years after passing up the network, with the CBS affiliation going to WPXI, who had originally intended to affiliate itself with CBS until the NBC-Westinghouse feud started as well as channel 11's own sign-on problems in the 1950s.[18] While NBC (the highest-rated network during much of the 1980s and 1990s) offered more money, CBS was interested in the programming opportunities Westinghouse offered, due to its own stagnation in programming at the time. CBS also offered a potential merger of their respective radio networks down the road (which ultimately happened), while NBC had abandoned radio in 1987. Ultimately, Westinghouse signed a long-term deal with CBS to convert the entire five-station Group W television unit to a group-wide CBS affiliation, making the Pittsburgh market one of the few major markets that were not affected by the affiliation switches.[19][20]

In 1995, Westinghouse acquired CBS, making KDKA-TV a CBS owned-and-operated station, after four decades as being simply a CBS affiliate. In 1997, Westinghouse became CBS Corporation, which would then merge with Viacom (which, ironically, has been Paramount's parent since 1994) in 2000, making KDKA-TV a sister station with Pittsburgh UPN affiliate WNPA-TV (channel 19, now CW station WPCW). Five years later, Viacom became the new CBS Corporation and spun off a new Viacom.

In August 2007, KDKA-TV unveiled a new image campaign, entitled "Your Home," with music and lyrics performed by singer-songwriter Bill Deasy. The promo features scenes of Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas, as well as three of the station's personalites. In September 2007, the station unveiled another promo featuring the Joe Grushecky song "Coming Home." Later, a third spot, "Long Way Home," was introduced, featuring the voice of Kelsey Friday.[21]

On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to sell CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy), currently the fourth-largest radio broadcasting company in the United States. The sale was completed on November 17, 2017,[22] and was conducted using a Reverse Morris Trust so that it was tax-free. While CBS shareholders retain a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom is the surviving entity, with KDKA radio and its sister stations now separated from KDKA-TV,[23][24] though the three stations maintain a strong news and content sharing agreement.

On December 4, 2019, CBS Corporation and Viacom remerged into ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global).[25]

Programming

Part of the 1995 affiliation agreement between CBS and Westinghouse included a deal to carry the entire CBS lineup in pattern, with no preemptions except for extended breaking news coverage or local news events. In the fall of 1995, channel 2 began running the entire CBS lineup in pattern, as it, and sister station KPIX-TV in San Francisco, were already affiliated with the network. However, unlike its rivals, KDKA-TV's evening newscast airs for three hours from 4 to 7 p.m., followed by the CBS Evening News at 7 p.m. (rather than 6:30 p.m. as with most CBS stations in the Eastern Time Zone). The weekend editions usually air on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m.

Preempted programming

Prior to 1995, channel 2 preempted moderate amounts of CBS programming. From the early 1960s to July 1990, the station did not clear As the World Turns, except for a brief period from December 1976 to October 1978. At the same time, WTAJ-TV in Altoona had run the program and was viewable in much of Pittsburgh itself and the eastern part of the market, and was even carried on many Pittsburgh-area cable systems well into the 1980s. Also, CBS affiliates WTOV-TV in Steubenville (until 1980) and WTRF-TV in Wheeling (from 1980) were viewable in Pittsburgh and points west. Until 1978, As the World Turns ran on WPGH and for a few years after that, it ran on WPTT-TV (channel 22). KDKA-TV also preempted the daytime game shows and reruns from CBS at various points during the 1970s. KDKA-TV was one of four CBS affiliates to preempt the 1974 film Death Wish on its television debut despite the network's 30+ cuts to its violent content; these affiliates objected not only to the remaining amount of violence in the film, but also to the apparent endorsement by the film of vigilante violence.[26] The station also occasionally preempted other CBS prime time programs for a syndicated movie, local news special, or sports (during the years in which the station had broadcast rights to Pittsburgh Pirates baseball and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey). Weekend preemptions included a small portion of Saturday and Sunday morning cartoons, and Sunday morning religious programs. In 1993, KDKA-TV stopped running CBS This Morning and instead ran Disney's syndicated cartoon block. Despite the preemptions, CBS was mostly satisfied with KDKA-TV, as it was the far-and-away market leader in Pittsburgh owing to its eight-year head-start on its main competitors.

Syndicated and local talk shows

As a Westinghouse-owned station, KDKA-TV carried the numerous syndicated talk shows produced by its subsidiary Group W Productions, including The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, Evening Magazine, and Hour Magazine. It also produced a local program titled Pittsburgh Talks.

Later in the 1980s, KDKA-TV carried the early seasons of the syndicated Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, though in separate time slots as opposed to the standard practice of airing them back-to-back; the station lost both shows to WPXI in 1988. Channel 2 also aired another King World Productions-distributed program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, during its first nine nationally syndicated seasons (1986–1995), airing the show weekdays at 5 p.m. In 1989, KDKA-TV acquired the rights to The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, airing it weekdays at 9 a.m. and Donahue weekdays at 4 p.m., respectively. However, due to the poor ratings of Donahue in the Pittsburgh market, KDKA-TV showed strong interest in new talk shows.

Sally and Donahue moved to WTAE-TV in 1993, and two years later, KDKA-TV debuted a 5 p.m. newscast, at which point Oprah also moved to WTAE-TV, airing at 4 p.m. In 1997, The Ricki Lake Show moved to WPGH-TV and Sally returned to KDKA-TV, and once again was given the 9 a.m. time slot, where it remained on and off until its cancellation in 2002. Sally was a success in the Pittsburgh area, even beating Montel Williams on WPXI in the 1990s. A revamped version of Pittsburgh 2day Live replaced Sally.

KDKA-TV aired The Rosie O'Donnell Show during its entire six-year run at the 4 p.m. time slot. After the show ended its run in 2002, rather than airing its replacement (the short-lived Caroline Rhea Show, which aired on WPXI), KDKA-TV became the first station in the Pittsburgh market to air a 4 p.m. newscast. As of September 2019, the only syndicated talk show on KDKA-TV is Dr. Phil serving as a lead-in to its evening newscast.

Since August 2020, Dr. Phil has been the only syndicated show airing on KDKA-TV in any capacity outside of the graveyard slot between the post-late fringe and breakfast television, as the station is either airing CBS network programming or local news throughout the day except for the 3–4 p.m. slot for Dr. Phil, with sister station WPCW now airing a heavy syndicated schedule during daytime programming.

Local shows

  • Hometown High-Q (2000–present) – "quiz bowl" format show with three teams composed of local high school students
  • #1 Cochran Sports Showdown (1998–present): – sports talk show
  • KD/PG Sunday Edition – public affairs program; joint production with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  • PTL – lifestyle talk show
  • Your Day Pittsburgh – morning news program
  • Your Evening Pittsburgh – evening news program

Seasonal

  • The Children's Hospital Free-Care Fund (1954–present; airs during the holiday season) – yearly telethon
  • Hometown Holiday Lights – Series aired during KDKA's newscasts; contest between local families with Christmas displays at their residence.
  • Steelers Kickoff (during the NFL season) – Pittsburgh Steelers pre-game show hosted by Bob Pompeani, Rich Walsh and Charlie Batch.
  • Steelers Huddle (September 19, 2009–present; airs during the NFL season) – Bob Pompeani and a rotating member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
  • Steelers Trivia Challenge (July 16, 2005–present) – Bob Pompeani hosts a "quiz bowl" format, modeled after Hometown High-Q, with three teams composed of three Pittsburgh Steelers fans who answer team-related trivia questions. The show runs for nine weeks (mid-July to mid-September).
  • Xtra Point (airs during the NFL season) – Pittsburgh Steelers post-game show after CBS broadcasts, hosted by Bob Pompeani and Chris Hoke. If CBS has a doubleheader game, the show airs on WPCW.

Former

  • Evening Magazine (August 1, 1977 – October 12, 1990)
  • Giant Eagle High School Sports Advantage
  • The Jerome Bettis Show (September 12, 1998 – February 4, 2006)
  • The Hines Ward Show (September 2, 2006 – January 31, 2009)
  • The Lynne Hayes-Freeland Show (1990–2021)
  • Mario Lemieux Celebrity Golf Invitational
  • Pittsburgh 2Day (1978 – January 19, 1990)
  • Pittsburgh Penguins hockey (1989–1997)
  • Pittsburgh Pirates baseball (1957–1994)
  • Wake Up With Larry Richert (1988–1990)
  • Your Pittsburgh (2016–2020)

Pittsburgh Steelers

As CBS holds the broadcast contract with the NFL to show games involving AFC teams, KDKA-TV has been the official broadcaster of most Pittsburgh Steelers games since 1998, and serves as the team's flagship station. The team's preseason games that are not nationally televised are also shown on KDKA-TV. KDKA-TV began its relationship with the Steelers in 1962, when CBS first started the leaguewide television package. The Steelers are one of three AFC teams that predate the AFC's basis league, the American Football League, and so KDKA-TV, and not WTAE-TV or WIIC-TV (now WPXI), carried Steelers road games (home games were blacked out locally under all circumstances until 1973, when sold-out home games began to be allowed on local television)—the AFL had television contracts with ABC, and later, NBC.

Due to the NFL rules of the time, after the AFL-NFL merger (and with it, the Steelers move to the newly formed AFC), KDKA-TV did not broadcast any Steelers games from 1970 to 1972 (Steeler games were exclusive to what was then WIIC-TV in that period). Beginning in 1973, KDKA-TV was allowed to air any Steelers games in which they hosted a team from the National Football Conference, which contained most of the old-line NFL teams. KDKA-TV also broadcast two Steeler championship wins, Super Bowl X in 1976 and Super Bowl XIV in 1980. Since the Steelers have sold out every home game starting in 1972, no blackouts have been required. In the meantime, from 1970 to 1997, channel 11 aired most Steelers games (and exclusively from 1970 to 1972).

When the NFC package moved from CBS to Fox in 1994, WPGH-TV aired the Steelers games that had before aired on KDKA-TV, leaving the senior station without Steelers games for four years. Today, and in general since 1970, the only exceptions to all the above are when the Steelers play at night. Their Monday Night Football games have always aired locally on WTAE-TV, first when ABC had the rights, and since 2006, on ESPN. WTAE-TV also aired simulcasts of their games aired as part of ESPN Sunday Night Football from 1987 to 2005 (since 2006, WPXI airs Steelers games when they play on Sunday nights). The NFL requires games on cable channels to be simulcast over-the-air in the markets of the participating teams (again with the home team's broadcast subject to blackout). WTAE-TV has simulcast ESPN-aired games because ESPN is 20% owned by WTAE-TV's owners, Hearst Corporation—their ABC stations have right of first refusal for these simulcasts. Games on TNT and NFL Network have aired on various stations in the area.[citation needed] In 2014, with the NFL's new 'cross-flex' broadcast rules, any games that involve the Steelers playing another AFC opponent (or NFC opponent on the road) scheduled to air on KDKA-TV can now air on Fox station WPGH-TV.

News operation

KDKA-TV presently broadcasts 43 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, 4½ hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays); KDKA-TV also produces 2 hours, 35 minutes of local newscasts each weekday for CW owned-and-operated sister station WPCW, in the form of a two hour-long extension of KDKA-TV's weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. and a nightly 35-minute newscast at 10 p.m. The station also shares newsgathering operations and co-produces certain public affairs shows with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper.

Under Westinghouse ownership, KDKA-TV used the Eyewitness News branding for its newscasts, pioneered by sister station KYW-TV. That, combined with being locally-owned, saw the station dominate its local news ratings for decades, though WTAE-TV became more competitive in the 1970s with its Action News format (which it still uses the branding for today), as well as signing over ex-KDKA-TV talent Paul Long & Don Cannon and a general larger investment in its news department by its owner Hearst Communications.

The 1990s saw many changes to the news department at KDKA-TV, notably Westinghouse's purchase of CBS and moving its headquarters to New York City (thus losing its locally-owned status), as well as KDKA-TV losing its flagship station status to WCBS-TV & KCBS-TV. Additionally, the Eyewitness News branding was dropped in 1997, in favor of simply "KDKA-TV News". By this point, WPXI had become more competitive with KDKA-TV & WTAE-TV due to its own investment into the news department back in the 1980s by its owner Cox Media Group, leading to a spirited three-way battle for first place in a market KDKA-TV once dominated.

In 2001, KDKA-TV began producing a 10 p.m. newscast on WNPA (now WPCW); in 2005, it added a two-hour weekday morning newscast from 7 to 9 a.m. on that station (which was later reduced to one hour from 7 to 8 a.m., but in 2019 the 8 a.m. hour was restored).

On June 16, 2009, KDKA-TV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.

In January 2019, the station fired an employee who programmed a lower third graphic to refer to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as a "known cheater" during a report on Super Bowl LIII.[27][28]

KDKA-TV launched a streaming news service, CBSN Pittsburgh (a localized version of the national CBSN service) on March 5, 2020, as part of a rollout of similar services across the CBS-owned stations.[29] It was rebranded to CBS News Pittsburgh in early 2022.

On August 17, 2020, KDKA premiered a new weekday news program at 7:30 p.m., replacing Extra, which is still seen overnights after The Late Late Show with James Corden. This competes against 7 p.m. newscasts on WTAE-TV and WPXI, however neither one of those stations air their 7 p.m. newscasts on their main channel (WTAE-TV airs theirs on the Cozi TV digital subchannel 4.2 while WPXI airs theirs through sister channel PCNC due to airing the Sony game show block Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! during that time.), leaving KDKA-TV the only station in the Pittsburgh market to air a newscast during the Prime Time Access Hour on its main signal.

Ratings

As of May 2015, KDKA-TV is the most watched news station in the Pittsburgh area in the hours of Noon, 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m.; the 7 a.m. newscast it produces for WPCW rated quite strongly at that time slot. However, WTAE-TV is the most watched news program in the area at 6 a.m. WPXI is also most watched at the 5 a.m. hour. WPGH-TV is the 10 p.m. newscast leader; WPXI has supplied its newscasts since 2006.

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[31]
2.1 1080i 16:9 KDKA-HD Main KDKA-TV programming / CBS
2.2 480i StartTV Start TV
2.3 DABL Dabl
2.4 FAVE Fave TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

KDKA-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate, during that night's broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman. The station showed the High Flight video clip, and a compilation of their analog history with "The Star-Spangled Banner" as background music, before shutting off. As part of the SAFER Act, KDKA-TV turned their analog signal on to repeat a series of public service announcements through July 12, 2009. On June 17, 2009, during this nightlight period, KDKA temporarily resumed regular programming to air severe weather coverage, bringing KDKA programming back on as part of the agreement.[32] The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 25.[33] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

In July 2009, the station applied to the FCC to operate two repeater signals: channel 31 in Morgantown, West Virginia and channel 40 in Johnstown.[34]

References

  1. ^ . Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  2. ^ "WDTV starts; DuMont outlet debuts in Pittsburgh." Broadcasting – Telecasting, January 17, 1949, pg. 32. [1][permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "DuMont History website by Clarke Ingram". Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  4. ^ "Eyewitness: 1949 / TV makes Pittsburgh 'A New Promise'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 16, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  5. ^ "WDTV channel switch." Broadcasting – Telecasting, December 8, 1952, pg. 72. [2][permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "We're Making Television History on WDTV," Sponsor, March 24, 1952, 7.
  7. ^ . Nrcdxas.org. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  8. ^ Original Pittsburgh Allocations
  9. ^ Togyer, Jason (May 4, 2009). . Pittsburgh Radio & TV Online. Archived from the original on December 23, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  10. ^ "Westinghouse pays record to buy DuMont's WDTV (TV)." Broadcasting – Telecasting, December 6, 1954, pp. 27–28. (PDF) http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-BC-IDX/54-OCR/1954-12-06-BC-OCR-Page-0027.pdf. Retrieved April 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[3][permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "WDTV (TV) Pittsburgh changes call to KDKA-TV." Broadcasting – Telecasting, January 31, 1955, pg. 73. [4][permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "Philadelphia circle is complete." Broadcasting, August 3, 1964, pg. 23.
  13. ^ "Nine-year history of that trade in Philadelphia." Broadcasting, August 3, 1964, pg. 24–25.
  14. ^ "CBS signs KDKA-TV as basic affiliate." Broadcasting, April 1, 1957, pg. 126. [5][permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "BillCardille".
  16. ^ "Pulse Local Ratings For June". Billboard. August 11, 1956. pp. 10–11.
  17. ^ . Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. December 1, 2002. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  18. ^ "Pittsburgh Ch. 11 grantee to be CBS-TV primary outlet." Broadcasting – Telecasting, June 20, 1955, pp. 89–90. [6][permanent dead link] [7][permanent dead link]
  19. ^ Carter, Bill (July 15, 1994). "CBS to Add Three Affiliates in Deal With Westinghouse". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  20. ^ Zier, Julie A. (July 18, 1994). "CBS, Group W form historic alliance" (PDF). Broadcasting and Cable. Retrieved February 13, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 7, 2005. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  22. ^ . RadioInk.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  23. ^ "CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom". Variety. February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  24. ^ "CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations". Fortune. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  25. ^ Weprin, Alex (December 4, 2019). "Bob Bakish's Memo to ViacomCBS Staff: Merger "a Historic Moment"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  26. ^ The MacNeil/Lehrer Report; TV Violence; Violence on Television. Boston, MA: National Records and Archives Administration, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_507-k06ww77p8d
  27. ^ "Station fires employee for Brady 'known cheater' graphic". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  28. ^ Rosenstein, Mike (January 30, 2019). "Super Bowl 2019: Patriots' Tom Brady called 'known cheater' and heads roll at Pittsburgh TV station". NJ.com. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  29. ^ Sciullo, Maria (March 5, 2020). "You can now watch KDKA news live on your phone, computer or streaming TV". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  30. ^ "Marty Griffin has left KDKA-TV news team, will continue morning show on KDKA Radio".
  31. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KDKA
  32. ^ "Nightlights & Transition Highlights • Channel 2".
  33. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  34. ^ "TV Query Results – Video Division (FCC) USA". Fcc.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2011.

External links

  • CBSPittsburgh.com – Official website of KDKA-TV CBS 2
  • The early years of Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV
  • Pittsburgh Television history page

January 13, 2023
kdka, television, station, weston, west, virginia, which, currently, uses, callsign, formerly, used, wdtv, confused, with, wdka, channel, television, station, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, united, states, airing, programming, from, network, owned, operated, networ. For the television station in Weston West Virginia which currently uses the callsign formerly used by KDKA TV see WDTV Not to be confused with WDKA KDKA TV channel 2 is a television station in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania United States airing programming from the CBS network It is owned and operated by the network s CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette licensed CW affiliate WPCW channel 19 Both stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh while KDKA TV s transmitter is located in the city s Perry North neighborhood KDKA TV along with sister station KYW TV in Philadelphia are the only CBS affiliated stations east of the Mississippi River with K call signs KDKA TVPittsburgh PennsylvaniaUnited StatesChannelsDigital 25 UHF Virtual 2BrandingKDKA 2 KDKA TV NewsProgrammingAffiliations2 1 CBS secondary until 1957 2 2 Start TV2 3 Dabl2 4 Fave TVOwnershipOwnerCBS News and Stations Paramount Global CBS Broadcasting Inc Sister stationsBroadcast WPCWStreaming CBS News PittsburghHistoryFirst air dateJanuary 11 1949 74 years ago 1949 01 11 Former call signsWDTV 1949 1955 Former channel number s Analog 3 VHF 1949 1952 2 VHF 1952 2009 Former affiliationsPrimary DuMont 1949 1956 Secondary NBC 1949 1957 ABC 1949 1958 DT2 Decades 2015 2018 Call sign meaningderived from former sister station KDKA radioTechnical informationLicensing authorityFCCFacility ID25454ERP1 000 kWHAAT311 m 1 020 ft Transmitter coordinates40 29 38 N 80 1 9 W 40 49389 N 80 01917 W 40 49389 80 01917 Coordinates 40 29 38 N 80 1 9 W 40 49389 N 80 01917 W 40 49389 80 01917LinksPublic license informationPublic fileLMSWebsitecbspittsburgh comKDKA TV is available on cable in parts of the Johnstown Altoona Wheeling Steubenville and Youngstown areas as well as several other out of market cable systems in northwestern Pennsylvania western Maryland northeastern and east central Ohio and north central West Virginia The furthest south KDKA TV is carried on cable is in Beverly West Virginia 1 Contents 1 History 1 1 DuMont origins 1949 1954 1 2 Dealing with competition 1 3 As KDKA TV 1954 present 2 Programming 2 1 Preempted programming 2 2 Syndicated and local talk shows 2 3 Local shows 2 3 1 Seasonal 2 3 2 Former 2 4 Pittsburgh Steelers 2 5 News operation 2 5 1 Ratings 2 5 2 Notable current on air staff 2 5 3 Notable former on air staff 3 Technical information 3 1 Subchannels 3 2 Analog to digital conversion 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditDuMont origins 1949 1954 Edit WDTV broadcast of We the People on April 18 1952 The guest is New York Yankees player Bill Bevens The station signed on as WDTV on January 11 1949 as a primary affiliate of the former DuMont Television Network while carrying secondary affiliations with CBS NBC and ABC It originally broadcast on channel 3 and was owned and operated by DuMont parent company Allen B DuMont Laboratories 2 It was the 51st television station in the U S the third and last DuMont owned station to sign on the air behind WABD now WNYW in New York City and WTTG in Washington D C and the first owned and operated station in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania To mark the occasion a live television special aired that day from 8 30 to 11 p m on WDTV which began with a one hour local program broadcast from Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh The remainder of the show featured live segments from DuMont CBS NBC and ABC with Arthur Godfrey Milton Berle DuMont host Ted Steele and many other celebrities 3 The station also represented a milestone in the television industry providing the link between the Midwestern and East Coast stations which included 13 other cities able to receive live telecasts from Boston to St Louis for the first time 4 WDTV was one of the last stations to receive a construction permit before the Federal Communications Commission FCC imposed four year freeze on new television station licenses When the release of the FCC s Sixth Report and Order ended the license freeze in 1952 DuMont was forced to give up its channel 3 allocation to alleviate interference with nearby stations broadcasting on the frequency notably NBC owned WNBK now WKYC in Cleveland who itself moved to the frequency to avoid interference with stations in Columbus and Detroit WDTV moved its facilities to channel 2 on November 23 1952 5 WPSU TV would later sign on with the channel 3 frequency for the Johnstown Altoona market Shortly after moving it was the first station in the country to broadcast 24 hours a day seven days a week advertising that its 1 00 7 00 a m Swing Shift Theatre served the 200 000 workers in their viewing area who finish shift work at midnight 6 DuMont s network of stations on coaxial cable stretched from Boston to St Louis These stations were linked together via AT amp T s coaxial cable feed with the sign on of WDTV allowing the network to broadcast live programming to all the stations at the same time Stations not yet connected to the coaxial cable received kinescope recordings via physical delivery citation needed The DuMont Television Network in 1949 Dealing with competition Edit Until the end of the freeze WDTV s only competition came in the form of distant signals from stations in Johnstown Altoona Wheeling and Youngstown However Pittsburgh saw two UHF stations launch during 1953 ABC affiliate WENS channel 16 later to become WINP TV and WKJF TV channel 53 later to become WPGH TV an independent station At the time UHF stations could not be viewed without the aid of an expensive set top converter and the picture quality was marginal at best with one UHF stations in the area faced an additional problem because Pittsburgh is located in a somewhat rugged dissected plateau and the reception of UHF stations is usually poor in such terrain These factors played a role in the short lived existences of both WKJF and WENS citation needed Although Pittsburgh was the sixth largest market in the country behind New York City Chicago Los Angeles Philadelphia and Washington Baltimore the other VHF stations in town were slow to develop This was because the major cities in the Upper Ohio Valley are so close together that they must share the VHF band After the FCC lifted the license freeze in 1952 it refused to grant any new commercial VHF construction permits to Pittsburgh in order to give the smaller cities in the area a chance to get on the air WDTV had a de facto monopoly on Pittsburgh television Like its sister stations WABD and WTTG it was far stronger than the DuMont network as a whole According to network general manager Ted Bergmann WDTV brought in 4 million a year which was more than enough to keep the network afloat Owning the only readily viewable station in such a large market gave DuMont considerable leverage in getting its programs cleared in large markets where it did not have an affiliate As CBS NBC and ABC had secondary affiliations with WDTV this was a strong incentive to stations in large markets to clear DuMont s programs or risk losing valuable advertising in the sixth largest market Also NBC affiliates from Johnstown WJAC TV channel 6 and Wheeling WTRF TV channel 7 were able to be received in Pittsburgh and a CBS affiliate from Steubenville Ohio WSTV TV now WTOV TV was also able to be received there as well CBS in fact actually attempted to purchase WSTV TV s license before it went on the air and move its channel 9 allocation to Pittsburgh due to the close proximity between Pittsburgh and Steubenville At the time less than an hour apart by car the completion of the Penn Lincoln Parkway in 1964 reduced that time to about a half hour driving time today but the FCC turned CBS down The Wheeling Steubenville TV market despite its very close proximity to Pittsburgh and overlapping signals remains a separate market by FCC standards today WDTV aired all DuMont network shows live and cherry picked the best shows from the other networks airing them on kinescope on an every other week basis WDTV s sign on was also significant because it was now possible to feed live programs from the East to the Midwest and vice versa In fact its second broadcast was the activation of the coaxial cable linking New York City and Chicago It would be another two years before the West Coast received live programming but this was the beginning of the modern era of network television citation needed As KDKA TV 1954 present Edit KDKA TV s studio building at One Gateway Center in Pittsburgh The station has been housed in this facility since 1956 7 KDKA TV s updated studio building signage put up in April 2019 KDKA radio moved to Green Tree in 2010 KDKA TV s 2021 news truck a Chevrolet Equinox in Pittsburgh By 1954 DuMont was in serious financial trouble Paramount Pictures which owned a stake in DuMont vetoed a merger with ABC who had merged with Paramount s former theater division United Paramount Theaters a year before A few years earlier the FCC had ruled that Paramount controlled DuMont and there were still lingering questions about whether UPT had actually broken off from Paramount Paramount did not want to risk the FCC s wrath Meanwhile Pittsburgh based Westinghouse Electric Corporation had been competing with local politicians to acquire the non commercial channel 13 license from the FCC as no other Pittsburgh allocated VHF station would be signing on for the foreseeable future After launching WBZ TV in Boston in 1948 and purchasing two other television stations Westinghouse was growing impatient with not having a station in its own home market Before the freeze Westinghouse was a shoo in for the channel 6 license that would later be given to WJAC TV in Johnstown after that station gave up the channel 13 allocation to Pittsburgh as part of the FCC s reallocation plan 8 Westinghouse later offered a compromise plan to the FCC in which the Commission would grant Westinghouse the channel 13 license Westinghouse would then share the facility with the educational licensee Finding the terms unacceptable Pittsburgh attorney Leland Hazard called Westinghouse CEO Gwilym Price to ask him if he should give up on his fight for public television Price said that Hazard should keep fighting for it giving Westinghouse backing for the station that would eventually become WQED 9 Westinghouse then turned its attention to WDTV offering DuMont a then record 9 75 million for the station in late 1954 Desperate for cash DuMont promptly accepted Westinghouse s offer 10 While the sale gave DuMont a short term cash infusion it eliminated DuMont s leverage in getting clearances in other major markets Within two years the DuMont network was no more After the sale closed in January 1955 Westinghouse changed WDTV s call letters to KDKA TV after Westinghouse s pioneering radio station KDKA 1020 AM 11 As such it became one of the few stations east of the Mississippi River with a K call sign The WDTV calls now reside on a CBS affiliate located 130 miles 209 km south of Pittsburgh in Weston West Virginia which is unrelated to the current KDKA TV That station which signed on after KDKA TV adopted its current callsign adopted those calls in honor of KDKA TV As KDKA radio had long been an affiliate of the NBC Blue Network Westinghouse was a co founder of RCA NBC s then parent company it was expected that KDKA TV would eventually become a primary affiliate of the NBC television network But the network was seeking to purchase Westinghouse s Philadelphia stations KYW radio and WPTZ now KYW TV When Westinghouse balked NBC threatened to pull its programming from WPTZ and Boston s WBZ TV unless Westinghouse agreed to trade its Philadelphia properties for NBC s radio and television properties in Cleveland Related to the trade Westinghouse received a cross station waiver from the FCC to own the Cleveland properties due to overlapping signals with KDKA radio and channel 2 The decision would lead to an acrimonious relationship between Westinghouse and NBC in later years 12 13 Two years after the ownership change channel 2 became a primary affiliate of the higher rated CBS network instead 14 KDKA TV retained secondary affiliations with NBC until WIIC TV channel 11 now WPXI signed on in 1957 and ABC until WTAE TV channel 4 signed on in 1958 Despite the ending of its commercial VHF monopoly KDKA TV did welcome competitor WIIC TV on the air 15 KDKA TV became the flagship station of Westinghouse s broadcasting arm Group W During the late 1950s KDKA TV was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network sharing the affiliation with WTAE TV WIIC TV and WQED 16 On November 22 1963 newscaster Bill Burns provided almost three hours of live coverage after the shooting of President John F Kennedy 17 In 1994 Westinghouse was looking to make a group wide affiliation deal for its stations as part of a larger plan to transform itself into a major media conglomerate after WJZ TV lost its ABC affiliation to Scripps owned WMAR TV in an affiliation deal spurred by Fox s affiliation deal with New World Communications Westinghouse negotiated with NBC and CBS for a deal Had Westinghouse signed with NBC KDKA TV would affiliate itself with NBC 40 years after passing up the network with the CBS affiliation going to WPXI who had originally intended to affiliate itself with CBS until the NBC Westinghouse feud started as well as channel 11 s own sign on problems in the 1950s 18 While NBC the highest rated network during much of the 1980s and 1990s offered more money CBS was interested in the programming opportunities Westinghouse offered due to its own stagnation in programming at the time CBS also offered a potential merger of their respective radio networks down the road which ultimately happened while NBC had abandoned radio in 1987 Ultimately Westinghouse signed a long term deal with CBS to convert the entire five station Group W television unit to a group wide CBS affiliation making the Pittsburgh market one of the few major markets that were not affected by the affiliation switches 19 20 In 1995 Westinghouse acquired CBS making KDKA TV a CBS owned and operated station after four decades as being simply a CBS affiliate In 1997 Westinghouse became CBS Corporation which would then merge with Viacom which ironically has been Paramount s parent since 1994 in 2000 making KDKA TV a sister station with Pittsburgh UPN affiliate WNPA TV channel 19 now CW station WPCW Five years later Viacom became the new CBS Corporation and spun off a new Viacom In August 2007 KDKA TV unveiled a new image campaign entitled Your Home with music and lyrics performed by singer songwriter Bill Deasy The promo features scenes of Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas as well as three of the station s personalites In September 2007 the station unveiled another promo featuring the Joe Grushecky song Coming Home Later a third spot Long Way Home was introduced featuring the voice of Kelsey Friday 21 On February 2 2017 CBS agreed to sell CBS Radio to Entercom now Audacy currently the fourth largest radio broadcasting company in the United States The sale was completed on November 17 2017 22 and was conducted using a Reverse Morris Trust so that it was tax free While CBS shareholders retain a 72 ownership stake in the combined company Entercom is the surviving entity with KDKA radio and its sister stations now separated from KDKA TV 23 24 though the three stations maintain a strong news and content sharing agreement On December 4 2019 CBS Corporation and Viacom remerged into ViacomCBS now Paramount Global 25 Programming EditPart of the 1995 affiliation agreement between CBS and Westinghouse included a deal to carry the entire CBS lineup in pattern with no preemptions except for extended breaking news coverage or local news events In the fall of 1995 channel 2 began running the entire CBS lineup in pattern as it and sister station KPIX TV in San Francisco were already affiliated with the network However unlike its rivals KDKA TV s evening newscast airs for three hours from 4 to 7 p m followed by the CBS Evening News at 7 p m rather than 6 30 p m as with most CBS stations in the Eastern Time Zone The weekend editions usually air on Saturdays at 6 30 p m and Sundays at 6 p m Preempted programming Edit Prior to 1995 channel 2 preempted moderate amounts of CBS programming From the early 1960s to July 1990 the station did not clear As the World Turns except for a brief period from December 1976 to October 1978 At the same time WTAJ TV in Altoona had run the program and was viewable in much of Pittsburgh itself and the eastern part of the market and was even carried on many Pittsburgh area cable systems well into the 1980s Also CBS affiliates WTOV TV in Steubenville until 1980 and WTRF TV in Wheeling from 1980 were viewable in Pittsburgh and points west Until 1978 As the World Turns ran on WPGH and for a few years after that it ran on WPTT TV channel 22 KDKA TV also preempted the daytime game shows and reruns from CBS at various points during the 1970s KDKA TV was one of four CBS affiliates to preempt the 1974 film Death Wish on its television debut despite the network s 30 cuts to its violent content these affiliates objected not only to the remaining amount of violence in the film but also to the apparent endorsement by the film of vigilante violence 26 The station also occasionally preempted other CBS prime time programs for a syndicated movie local news special or sports during the years in which the station had broadcast rights to Pittsburgh Pirates baseball and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey Weekend preemptions included a small portion of Saturday and Sunday morning cartoons and Sunday morning religious programs In 1993 KDKA TV stopped running CBS This Morning and instead ran Disney s syndicated cartoon block Despite the preemptions CBS was mostly satisfied with KDKA TV as it was the far and away market leader in Pittsburgh owing to its eight year head start on its main competitors Syndicated and local talk shows Edit As a Westinghouse owned station KDKA TV carried the numerous syndicated talk shows produced by its subsidiary Group W Productions including The Merv Griffin Show The Mike Douglas Show Evening Magazine and Hour Magazine It also produced a local program titled Pittsburgh Talks Later in the 1980s KDKA TV carried the early seasons of the syndicated Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune though in separate time slots as opposed to the standard practice of airing them back to back the station lost both shows to WPXI in 1988 Channel 2 also aired another King World Productions distributed program The Oprah Winfrey Show during its first nine nationally syndicated seasons 1986 1995 airing the show weekdays at 5 p m In 1989 KDKA TV acquired the rights to The Sally Jessy Raphael Show airing it weekdays at 9 a m and Donahue weekdays at 4 p m respectively However due to the poor ratings of Donahue in the Pittsburgh market KDKA TV showed strong interest in new talk shows Sally and Donahue moved to WTAE TV in 1993 and two years later KDKA TV debuted a 5 p m newscast at which point Oprah also moved to WTAE TV airing at 4 p m In 1997 The Ricki Lake Show moved to WPGH TV and Sally returned to KDKA TV and once again was given the 9 a m time slot where it remained on and off until its cancellation in 2002 Sally was a success in the Pittsburgh area even beating Montel Williams on WPXI in the 1990s A revamped version of Pittsburgh 2day Live replaced Sally KDKA TV aired The Rosie O Donnell Show during its entire six year run at the 4 p m time slot After the show ended its run in 2002 rather than airing its replacement the short lived Caroline Rhea Show which aired on WPXI KDKA TV became the first station in the Pittsburgh market to air a 4 p m newscast As of September 2019 the only syndicated talk show on KDKA TV is Dr Phil serving as a lead in to its evening newscast Since August 2020 Dr Phil has been the only syndicated show airing on KDKA TV in any capacity outside of the graveyard slot between the post late fringe and breakfast television as the station is either airing CBS network programming or local news throughout the day except for the 3 4 p m slot for Dr Phil with sister station WPCW now airing a heavy syndicated schedule during daytime programming Local shows Edit Hometown High Q 2000 present quiz bowl format show with three teams composed of local high school students 1 Cochran Sports Showdown 1998 present sports talk show KD PG Sunday Edition public affairs program joint production with Pittsburgh Post Gazette PTL lifestyle talk show Your Day Pittsburgh morning news program Your Evening Pittsburgh evening news programSeasonal Edit The Children s Hospital Free Care Fund 1954 present airs during the holiday season yearly telethon Hometown Holiday Lights Series aired during KDKA s newscasts contest between local families with Christmas displays at their residence Steelers Kickoff during the NFL season Pittsburgh Steelers pre game show hosted by Bob Pompeani Rich Walsh and Charlie Batch Steelers Huddle September 19 2009 present airs during the NFL season Bob Pompeani and a rotating member of the Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers Trivia Challenge July 16 2005 present Bob Pompeani hosts a quiz bowl format modeled after Hometown High Q with three teams composed of three Pittsburgh Steelers fans who answer team related trivia questions The show runs for nine weeks mid July to mid September Xtra Point airs during the NFL season Pittsburgh Steelers post game show after CBS broadcasts hosted by Bob Pompeani and Chris Hoke If CBS has a doubleheader game the show airs on WPCW Former Edit Evening Magazine August 1 1977 October 12 1990 Giant Eagle High School Sports Advantage The Jerome Bettis Show September 12 1998 February 4 2006 The Hines Ward Show September 2 2006 January 31 2009 The Lynne Hayes Freeland Show 1990 2021 Mario Lemieux Celebrity Golf Invitational Pittsburgh 2Day 1978 January 19 1990 Pittsburgh Penguins hockey 1989 1997 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball 1957 1994 Wake Up With Larry Richert 1988 1990 Your Pittsburgh 2016 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers Edit As CBS holds the broadcast contract with the NFL to show games involving AFC teams KDKA TV has been the official broadcaster of most Pittsburgh Steelers games since 1998 and serves as the team s flagship station The team s preseason games that are not nationally televised are also shown on KDKA TV KDKA TV began its relationship with the Steelers in 1962 when CBS first started the leaguewide television package The Steelers are one of three AFC teams that predate the AFC s basis league the American Football League and so KDKA TV and not WTAE TV or WIIC TV now WPXI carried Steelers road games home games were blacked out locally under all circumstances until 1973 when sold out home games began to be allowed on local television the AFL had television contracts with ABC and later NBC Due to the NFL rules of the time after the AFL NFL merger and with it the Steelers move to the newly formed AFC KDKA TV did not broadcast any Steelers games from 1970 to 1972 Steeler games were exclusive to what was then WIIC TV in that period Beginning in 1973 KDKA TV was allowed to air any Steelers games in which they hosted a team from the National Football Conference which contained most of the old line NFL teams KDKA TV also broadcast two Steeler championship wins Super Bowl X in 1976 and Super Bowl XIV in 1980 Since the Steelers have sold out every home game starting in 1972 no blackouts have been required In the meantime from 1970 to 1997 channel 11 aired most Steelers games and exclusively from 1970 to 1972 When the NFC package moved from CBS to Fox in 1994 WPGH TV aired the Steelers games that had before aired on KDKA TV leaving the senior station without Steelers games for four years Today and in general since 1970 the only exceptions to all the above are when the Steelers play at night Their Monday Night Football games have always aired locally on WTAE TV first when ABC had the rights and since 2006 on ESPN WTAE TV also aired simulcasts of their games aired as part of ESPN Sunday Night Football from 1987 to 2005 since 2006 WPXI airs Steelers games when they play on Sunday nights The NFL requires games on cable channels to be simulcast over the air in the markets of the participating teams again with the home team s broadcast subject to blackout WTAE TV has simulcast ESPN aired games because ESPN is 20 owned by WTAE TV s owners Hearst Corporation their ABC stations have right of first refusal for these simulcasts Games on TNT and NFL Network have aired on various stations in the area citation needed In 2014 with the NFL s new cross flex broadcast rules any games that involve the Steelers playing another AFC opponent or NFC opponent on the road scheduled to air on KDKA TV can now air on Fox station WPGH TV News operation Edit This section needs expansion with further information on the history of KDKA TV s news department You can help by adding to it August 2013 KDKA TV presently broadcasts 43 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with seven hours each weekday 4 hours on Saturdays and 3 hours on Sundays KDKA TV also produces 2 hours 35 minutes of local newscasts each weekday for CW owned and operated sister station WPCW in the form of a two hour long extension of KDKA TV s weekday morning newscast at 7 a m and a nightly 35 minute newscast at 10 p m The station also shares newsgathering operations and co produces certain public affairs shows with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper Under Westinghouse ownership KDKA TV used the Eyewitness News branding for its newscasts pioneered by sister station KYW TV That combined with being locally owned saw the station dominate its local news ratings for decades though WTAE TV became more competitive in the 1970s with its Action News format which it still uses the branding for today as well as signing over ex KDKA TV talent Paul Long amp Don Cannon and a general larger investment in its news department by its owner Hearst Communications The 1990s saw many changes to the news department at KDKA TV notably Westinghouse s purchase of CBS and moving its headquarters to New York City thus losing its locally owned status as well as KDKA TV losing its flagship station status to WCBS TV amp KCBS TV Additionally the Eyewitness News branding was dropped in 1997 in favor of simply KDKA TV News By this point WPXI had become more competitive with KDKA TV amp WTAE TV due to its own investment into the news department back in the 1980s by its owner Cox Media Group leading to a spirited three way battle for first place in a market KDKA TV once dominated In 2001 KDKA TV began producing a 10 p m newscast on WNPA now WPCW in 2005 it added a two hour weekday morning newscast from 7 to 9 a m on that station which was later reduced to one hour from 7 to 8 a m but in 2019 the 8 a m hour was restored On June 16 2009 KDKA TV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition In January 2019 the station fired an employee who programmed a lower third graphic to refer to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as a known cheater during a report on Super Bowl LIII 27 28 KDKA TV launched a streaming news service CBSN Pittsburgh a localized version of the national CBSN service on March 5 2020 as part of a rollout of similar services across the CBS owned stations 29 It was rebranded to CBS News Pittsburgh in early 2022 On August 17 2020 KDKA premiered a new weekday news program at 7 30 p m replacing Extra which is still seen overnights after The Late Late Show with James Corden This competes against 7 p m newscasts on WTAE TV and WPXI however neither one of those stations air their 7 p m newscasts on their main channel WTAE TV airs theirs on the Cozi TV digital subchannel 4 2 while WPXI airs theirs through sister channel PCNC due to airing the Sony game show block Wheel of Fortune Jeopardy during that time leaving KDKA TV the only station in the Pittsburgh market to air a newscast during the Prime Time Access Hour on its main signal Ratings Edit As of May 2015 KDKA TV is the most watched news station in the Pittsburgh area in the hours of Noon 4 5 6 and 11 p m the 7 a m newscast it produces for WPCW rated quite strongly at that time slot However WTAE TV is the most watched news program in the area at 6 a m WPXI is also most watched at the 5 a m hour WPGH TV is the 10 p m newscast leader WPXI has supplied its newscasts since 2006 Notable current on air staff Edit Jon Delano money and politics reporter 1994 present John Shumway anchor reporter 1988 present Notable former on air staff Edit Susan Barnett anchor 1999 2003 later at KYW TV in Philadelphia Bill Burns anchor 1953 89 now deceased Patti Burns anchor reporter 1974 97 now deceased Don Cannon anchor reporter 1999 2008 Rehema Ellis began broadcast career at KDKA TV now with NBC News Marty Griffin investigative and consumer assistance reporter Get Marty now at sister station KDKA radio 30 Donna Hanover hosted Evening Magazine 1977 80 later an anchor reporter in New York City Ron Klink weekend anchor reporter 1977 91 later elected as a United States Representative D PA Dennis Miller contributor and guest host of Evening Magazine now at RT America Josh Miller born 1970 American football player and football analyst Paul Moyer anchor reporter 1971 later an anchor in Los Angeles now retired Ron Olsen reporter talk show host 1976 79 Larry Richert anchor and weatherman 1988 2001 currently hosting morning show on sister radio station KDKA John Sanders sports anchor Stacy Smith anchor 1983 2021 now retired John Steigerwald sports anchor 1985 2007 Paul Steigerwald sports reporter 1987 98 formerly a play by play announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins at AT amp T SportsNet Pittsburgh now works for the team s front office Dick Stockton sports reporter 1967 71 later at CBS Sports then concurrently at Fox Sports and Turner Sports now retired Brian Sussman weatherman 1987 was most recently at KSFO in San Francisco now retired Marie Torre anchor reporter 1962 77 now deceased Technical information EditSubchannels Edit The station s digital signal is multiplexed Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming 31 2 1 1080i 16 9 KDKA HD Main KDKA TV programming CBS2 2 480i StartTV Start TV2 3 DABL Dabl2 4 FAVE Fave TVAnalog to digital conversion Edit KDKA TV shut down its analog signal over VHF channel 2 on June 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate during that night s broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman The station showed the High Flight video clip and a compilation of their analog history with The Star Spangled Banner as background music before shutting off As part of the SAFER Act KDKA TV turned their analog signal on to repeat a series of public service announcements through July 12 2009 On June 17 2009 during this nightlight period KDKA temporarily resumed regular programming to air severe weather coverage bringing KDKA programming back on as part of the agreement 32 The station s digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre transition UHF channel 25 33 Through the use of PSIP digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2 In July 2009 the station applied to the FCC to operate two repeater signals channel 31 in Morgantown West Virginia and channel 40 in Johnstown 34 References Edit TV Listings Guide and TV Schedule Where to Watch TV Shows Zap2it Archived from the original on April 6 2016 Retrieved August 31 2013 WDTV starts DuMont outlet debuts in Pittsburgh Broadcasting Telecasting January 17 1949 pg 32 1 permanent dead link DuMont History website by Clarke Ingram Retrieved February 11 2020 Eyewitness 1949 TV makes Pittsburgh A New Promise Pittsburgh Post Gazette May 16 2010 Retrieved February 9 2022 WDTV channel switch Broadcasting Telecasting December 8 1952 pg 72 2 permanent dead link We re Making Television History on WDTV Sponsor March 24 1952 7 NRC Convention 08 Pittsburgh PA Nrcdxas org Archived from the original on August 5 2009 Retrieved March 29 2011 Original Pittsburgh Allocations Togyer Jason May 4 2009 Creating QED at DuMont s expense Pittsburgh Radio amp TV Online Archived from the original on December 23 2010 Retrieved February 9 2022 Westinghouse pays record to buy DuMont s WDTV TV Broadcasting Telecasting December 6 1954 pp 27 28 PDF http www americanradiohistory com hd2 Archive BC IDX 54 OCR 1954 12 06 BC OCR Page 0027 pdf Retrieved April 2 2015 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help 3 permanent dead link WDTV TV Pittsburgh changes call to KDKA TV Broadcasting Telecasting January 31 1955 pg 73 4 permanent dead link Philadelphia circle is complete Broadcasting August 3 1964 pg 23 Nine year history of that trade in Philadelphia Broadcasting August 3 1964 pg 24 25 CBS signs KDKA TV as basic affiliate Broadcasting April 1 1957 pg 126 5 permanent dead link BillCardille Pulse Local Ratings For June Billboard August 11 1956 pp 10 11 Souls who enriched our lives our region Pittsburgh Tribune Review December 1 2002 Archived from the original on March 24 2007 Retrieved February 9 2022 Pittsburgh Ch 11 grantee to be CBS TV primary outlet Broadcasting Telecasting June 20 1955 pp 89 90 6 permanent dead link 7 permanent dead link Carter Bill July 15 1994 CBS to Add Three Affiliates in Deal With Westinghouse The New York Times Retrieved July 12 2012 Zier Julie A July 18 1994 CBS Group W form historic alliance PDF Broadcasting and Cable Retrieved February 13 2013 permanent dead link TV Q amp A with Rob Owen KDKA s Image Campaign Pittsburgh Post Gazette October 7 2005 Archived from the original on September 27 2007 Retrieved February 9 2022 Entercom CBS Radio Merger Is Complete RadioInk com Archived from the original on November 18 2017 Retrieved November 17 2017 CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom Variety February 2 2017 Retrieved February 2 2017 CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations Fortune Retrieved February 2 2017 Weprin Alex December 4 2019 Bob Bakish s Memo to ViacomCBS Staff Merger a Historic Moment The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved February 9 2022 The MacNeil Lehrer Report TV Violence Violence on Television Boston MA National Records and Archives Administration American Archive of Public Broadcasting WGBH and the Library of Congress Boston MA and Washington DC Retrieved from http americanarchive org catalog cpb aacip 507 k06ww77p8d Station fires employee for Brady known cheater graphic Sports Illustrated Retrieved January 30 2019 Rosenstein Mike January 30 2019 Super Bowl 2019 Patriots Tom Brady called known cheater and heads roll at Pittsburgh TV station NJ com Retrieved January 30 2019 Sciullo Maria March 5 2020 You can now watch KDKA news live on your phone computer or streaming TV Pittsburgh Post Gazette Retrieved March 5 2020 Marty Griffin has left KDKA TV news team will continue morning show on KDKA Radio RabbitEars TV Query for KDKA Nightlights amp Transition Highlights Channel 2 DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds PDF Archived from the original PDF on August 29 2013 Retrieved March 24 2012 TV Query Results Video Division FCC USA Fcc gov Retrieved March 29 2011 External links Edit Television portalCBSPittsburgh com Official website of KDKA TV CBS 2 The early years of Pittsburgh s KDKA TV Pittsburgh Television history page Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title KDKA TV amp oldid 1132983681, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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